Using Extensions
Add more tools to Photos with a range of third-party software plugins
Extensions are a great way to add more advanced editing controls
Extensions are third-party plugins that broaden the range of things Photos can do. They’re a great way for experienced photographers to access more advanced controls without leaving Photos, but others can give you a wider range of easy-to-use filter effects or borders, and are useful to photographers of all experience levels.
Many Photos’ Extensions are available from the Mac App store: you can find a growing list by searching for “Photos Extension.” However, not all developers have tagged their plugins to make them easy to find, so you need to keep your ear to the ground to discover new apps. If you have a favorite image editor, it’s worth searching to see if there’s an Extension version available, either at the Mac App Store, or at its website – apps outside the App Store can have Extensions, too.
Some Photos Extensions are free while others have a modest cost, but there are a few more expensive packages. Many of these are available as time-limited trials or with reduced functionality, which can be expanded by upgrading to the full version.
A few developers include Photos Extensions right alongside their desktop software. Affinity Photo ($49.99) from Serif, for example, is a powerful image editor and comes complete with six extensions: Develop, Haze Removal, Liquify, Miniature, Monochrome, and Retouch. These offer some of the control of the desktop app in a simpler form directly within Photos and are installed with the main software. See p40 for more about Monochrome.
If you like using Photos but find that you still frequently defer to an external editor, you might want to try External Editor For Photos from Karsten Bruns. This extension costs just 99¢ and enables you to open and edit an image in other editors, including Photoshop, from within Photos. Once you’ve made the edit you can return to Photos, or click Revert to Original to remove all of the applied external edits.